In a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material, the phenol type and naphthol type couplers are well known as generally used cyan couplers. Meanwhile, in recent years, research efforts have been directed to developing cyan couplers which provide high color developability and dye image fastness and excellent color reproducibility by improving the color developability (which relates to coupling activity and the molecular extinction coefficient of the dye obtained), the fastness of the dye obtained, and the absorption characteristic un to the dye obtained from the phenol type and naphthol type couplers. Couplers developed through such efforts include, for example, the 3-hydroxypyridine type compounds described in European Patent Publication 333,185, the 3H-2-dicyanomethylidenethiazoles described in European Patent Publication 362,808, the 3-dicyanomethyl-idene-2,3-dihydrobenzothiophene-1,1-dioxides described in JP-A-64-32260 (the term "JP-A" as used herewith means an unexamined Japanese patent application), the pyrazoloazoles described in JP-A-63-264753 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,183, the imidazoles described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,818,672 and 4,921,783 and JP-A-3-48243, the pyrazolopyrimidones and pyrazoloquinazolones described in European Patent Publications 304,001, 329,036 and 374,781, and JP-A-2-85851, and the condensed triazoles described in European patent Publication 342,637.
However, these proposed novel cyan couplers do not simultaneously satisfy all of the above requirements for excellent color developability, dye image fastness and color reproducibility, and they can not be put to practical use without further research and development.
Couplers which have the same basic structure as that of the pyrrolotriazole type cyan coupler according to the present invention are shown in Formulas (IX), (XIII), (XV) and (XX) of Formulas (II) to (XXXV) of JP-A-62-278552, and two specific compounds are exemplified for each of these formulas. Compounds having the same bisic structure are also proposed in Formulas (I) and (II) of JP-A-62-279340, and forty two specific compounds are exemplified.
However, all of the compounds described in JP-A-62-278552 and JP-A-62-279340 are magenta couplers. Accordingly, even if they have the same basic structure, they are completely different from the cyan couplers of the present invention, which provide a cyan dye by reaction with an oxidation product of a color developing agent as a result of a particular substituent present in the cyan couplers of the present invention.
Further, compounds represented by Formulas (IV) to (XVII) are specifically proposed in JP-A-1-288855 as cyan couplers having a novel basic structure, and among them, the compounds represented by Formulas (IV) and (V) are described as a pyrrolotriazole type cyan coupler. In particular, the compounds represented by Formula (IV) are pyrrolotriazole type couplers with the same basic structure as that of the cyan coupler of the present invention, but the active site thereof at which they are subjected to a coupling reaction with an oxidation product of a color developing agent is different from that of the coupler of the present invention according to the structure shown in the above patent. In addition, the coupling activity of the couplers exemplified in the above patent is low and it is difficult to put them to practical use.
Meanwhile, well known as a magenta coupler is a 5-pyrazolone type magenta coupler having an acylamino group or anilino group at a 3-position and a phenyl group at a 1-position. In recent years, pyrazoloazole type magenta couplers have been rapidly developed and some of them have begun to be put to practical use since they have different characteristics from those of the conventional 5-pyrazolone type magenta couplers, for example, excellent color reproducibility without having a secondary absorption at a shorter wavelength side (about 430 nm) of a primary absorption wavelength in an absorption characteristic of the dye obtained therefrom and excellent dye image fastness.
However, this pyrazoloazole type magenta coupler as well as the above cyan couplers can not simultaneously satisfy such performance characteristics as color developability, dye image fastness and color reproducibility, and further research and development is necessary.
As stated above, the improvement of the characteristics of the cyan and magenta couplers such as a color developability, dye image fastness and color reproducibility and the introduction thereof into a light-sensitive material does not necessarily result in a light-sensitive material which demonstrates all of these excellent performance characteristics simultaneously and in some cases, the performance characteristics are rather unfavorable. Unless the fastnesses of the three colors of cyan, magenta and yellow reside at the same level, even if these fastnesses including that with a yellow coupler are improved, the color balance of a dye image formed will collapse and will result in a deteriorated image quality.